Spot on analysis, I wasn't able to pinpoint exactly what was that wasn't working for me until I read this. I wholeheartedly agree with you.sapienveneficus wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 3:16 pm I've bolded the section I want to respond to. I've been mulling over my reaction to Phil's video for a bit, and I think I've figured out what isn't working. Basically, going forward, I think he needs to be making two kinds of videos on his main channel.
Light-Hearted Collabs
Phil has done a few silly solo vids in the past (shout out to eBay mystery boxes, a personal favorite) but his brand of zany works better when he has someone to play off of. It should be Dan, but in this interim where the Lord of Darkness seems to have devoted himself fully to video games and jogging, Phil needs to find stand ins. I'm sure we all have a list of YouTubers we've been dying to see Phil work with (Safiya Nygaard's at the top of my list; who's on yours?). This hiatus is the perfect opportunity for Phil to start checking those creators off his list.
Will the real Phil Lester please step forward
When he's not filming silly collabs, I want to see Phil use his platform to get real. I want him to tell personal stories about his high school days, his college days, his post-college days, whatever. I want to know more about Phil, and I don't think I'm alone in that. Both he and Dan have built this passionate fanbase over the past decade, and that fanbase is tuning in/hanging around for them, Dan Howell and Phil Lester. Fans want to know more about them. Heck, you know we'd all watch a 20 minute in-depth discussion about Phil's sock collection if he genuinely told us why he loves fun socks and the stories behind some of the pairs he's purchased over the years. Why? Because we care about Phil Lester and we want to know more about him. This is Phil's opportunity to share with his audience a little more about himself, and I think he's wasting it.
The Weakest Link video didn't work for me because it wasn't personal. His act of pretending to guess his old answers was inauthentic. Phil can't coast on that sort of content anymore because his audience is too savvy. They're older, they've been around for a long time, and they want more. I think this video could have worked if he'd told us the story of trying out for the Weakest Link, what it was actually like being on the show, and what his friends and family actually thought afterwards. He could have shown a clip or two, but the focus of the video should have been Phil's thoughts and experiences, not the game show.
And aside from collabs and getting real I'd love to see him go back to his experimental phase and produce some short films or idk even a webseries on his channel, he has such a creative mind and sometimes I feel that in these type of videos like TWL that potential is going to waste (even though I liked the video nonetheless cause I really needed some lighthearted entertainment) and that could also attract new fans too. Exploit that brilliant, weird mind of yours, Mr. Amazing!